Zdeno Chara and Josh Langfeld scored 41 seconds apart in the third period to lift the Ottawa Senators past the free-falling New York Rangers 4-1 Monday.
Chara, who also had an assist and a fight in his second straight multipoint game, put Ottawa in front. Then Langfeld found the loose puck in a scrum in front and scored to help the Senators to their fourth straight win since the All-Star break.
PHOTO: AFP
Bobby Holik gave the Rangers the lead in the second period. The Rangers, who lost their third straight, are in 11th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference and sit 11 points behind the Islanders and the playoff cutoff.
"We were missing our pregame nap," Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson said of the holiday matinee. "They got to 1-0 and it sort of woke us up."
Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski also scored for Ottawa, while New York's Matthew Barnaby missed a penalty shot.
"I didn't think they could keep it up for 60," Smolinski said of the Rangers' intensity. "We stuck to our gameplan and capitalized on mistakes."
Sabres 7, Thrashers 2
In Buffalo, New York, Miroslav Satan scored a career-high four goals, including the 250th of his career, to lead the Buffalo Sabres over the Atlanta Thrashers.
Daniel Briere had a goal and two assists, while Ales Kotalik and Andy Delmore also scored.
Satan's third goal gave him 500 points in the NHL. It's the third time this season -- and seventh of his career -- that he scored at least three goals.
Alexander Mogilny was the last Buffalo player with four goals in a game, on Feb. 24, 1993.
Ilya Kovalchuk (team-high 30th goal) and Randy Robitaille scored power-play goals for the Thrashers.
Islanders 1, Kings 1
In Uniondale, New York, Arron Asham scored early in the third period and Rick DiPietro stopped 29 shots, rallying the New York Islanders to a tie with the Los Angeles Kings.
Trent Klatt scored in the second period for the Kings, who have earned points in 10 of their last 11 games, including eight overtime contests.
Cristobal Huet stopped 36 shots for Los Angeles.
Blues 4, Coyotes 2
In St. Louis, Jamal Mayers scored the go-ahead goal off goalie Brian Boucher's skates with four minutes left, lifting the St. Louis Blues past the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2.
Chris Pronger had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who led 2-0 in the second period. Doug Weight and Mark Rycroft also scored for St. Louis.
Brian Savage had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, while Shane Doan got his team-leading 21st goal.
Blue Jackets 4, Predators 2
In Columbus, Ohio, Manny Malhotra matched his career high with two goals to help Columbus beat Nashville.
Malhotra, claimed off waivers from Dallas in November, has career bests of 10 goals and 17 points.
Jaroslav Spacek and David Ling also scored for Columbus. Greg Johnson and David Legwand scored for Nashville, which had won all four meetings this season and six in a row against Columbus.
Hurricanes 3, Panthers 1
In Raleigh, North Carolina, Sean Hill and Pavel Brendl scored first-period goals to lead the Carolina over the Florida.
Kevin Weekes stopped 20 shots and Rob Brind'Amour had an empty-net goal for Carolina, which won its first home game since Jan. 8.
Juraj Kolnik scored with 49.3 seconds left for Florida, losers of two in a row. Roberto Luongo settled down after a shaky first period and finished with 20 saves.
Red Wings 2, Oilers 1
In Detroit, Manny Legace stopped 29 shots, and Kris Draper and Mathieu Schneider each scored in Detroit's win over Edmonton.
The Red Wings held the Oilers without a shot in the second period. The last time Detroit kept an opponent without a shot in a period was Jan. 24, 1996, in a 4-2 win over San Jose.
Jarret Stoll scored for Edmonton and Tommy Salo made 24 saves.
Maple Leafs 8, Penguins 4
In Pittsburgh, Owen Nolan scored twice and figured in Toronto's first four goals, three in just over four minutes of the first period, and the Maple Leafs sent Pittsburgh to an NHL-record 12th consecutive home loss.
Despite playing without All-Star forward Gary Roberts (pulled leg muscle), the Leafs went 4-for-5 on the power play. They also got a short-handed goal from Mats Sundin in the second period, his 31st goal in 41 career games against Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh has lost its last 15 games, but is not threatening the NHL record of 17 consecutive losses because it earned a point in Saturday night's 3-2 overtime loss in St. Louis.
Toronto's No. 3 goalie, Mikael Tellqvist, made 22 saves to win for the first time since beating Carolina on Nov. 5.
Sharks 5, Flyers 2
In Philadelphia, Scott Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo each had a goal and two assists, helping San Jose snap Philadelphia's five-game winning streak.
Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Mike Ricci also scored for Pacific Division-leading San Jose, which won its second straight away from home after opening a six-game road trip with consecutive losses.
John LeClair and Simon Gagne scored for the Atlantic Division-leading Flyers, who lost for just the second time in 12 games.
Sean Burke allowed five goals on 20 shots, losing for the first time in three starts since coming to the Flyers in a trade last week. Evgeni Nabokov had 20 saves for San Jose.
Mighty Ducks 3, Stars 1
In Anaheim, California, Sergei Fedorov and Petr Sykora scored 19 seconds apart early in the second period and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 36 saves to lead Anaheim over Dallas.
Mike Leclerc added an empty-net goal 34 seconds to play. It was his first goal in four games since returning from offseason knee surgery.
Bill Guerin scored for the Stars, who have dropped two straight for the first time since a five-game losing streak Nov. 30-Dec. 10.
Marty Turco, making his 32nd consecutive start -- and 12th straight with a broken left foot -- made 22 saves.
Canucks 1, Avalanche 0
In Denver, Daniel Sedin scored a third-period goal and Dan Cloutier made 23 saves, and Vancouver beat Colorado.
Cloutier recorded his fourth shutout of the season and 14th of his career as the Canucks trimmed Colorado's lead in the Northwest Division to four points.
David Aebischer had 20 saves for the Avalanche.
Moments after Todd Bertuzzi wiped out two Colorado players behind the net, Sedin poked in a shot from just right of the goal at 2:09 of the third.
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